He is suddenly someone willing to take a risk, someone offering specifics instead of generalities, and someone willing to sell his own agenda to the voters instead of trying to bash his way into the Oval Office. And by embracing Ryan, and the controversial policy heft he brings to the ticket, Romney is now a serious candidate who has displayed true leadership — the willingness to do something politically dangerous because he believes it is the right thing to do…

Romney has shown now he doesn’t plan to try and win by default. He has chosen the best person, likely the only person, who can convince an anxious electorate of the need to swallow some dreadful medicine. If Ryan can’t do it, then it’s likely nobody can.

***

Many close aides had been lobbying for the low-risk, non-objectionable Pawlenty, arguing that the two could run as outsiders, taking on Washington…

Instead, Romney went for one of the most prominent faces in Washington. “Do no harm,” the campaign’s longtime philosophy about choosing a ticket mate, had suddenly become: “Let’s take a chance.” For several weeks, top aides had seen that Romney was learning toward bold over safe.

Romney is rolling the dice on a bet that voters crave “substance” — in this case, a deep debate about the deficit and entitlement cuts that Romney himself has mostly dodged up to this point…

For the GOP’s conservative base, Ryan’s entry holds the tantalizing promise of elevating Romney’s game, inciting a debate on the familiar and friendly battlefield of the tea party-dominated 2010 midterms.

The 42-year-old Wisconsin congressman “knows the game — he knows math — he knows exactly what the country needs,” said Alan Simpson, the former Republican senator from Wyoming Obama tapped to co-chair his deficit commission.

Three years ago, the Tea Party movement emerged as a way of protesting Mr. Obama’s health care legislation. Members followed up with a wave of political victories in the 2010 midterm elections that gave the movement a strong — if not always organized and coherent — voice in the Congress.

Now, Mr. Ryan’s place on the national ticket testifies to the staying power of the Tea Party ideology and provides a single person around which the movement can coalesce. When he delivers his remarks at the Republican National Convention in Tampa later this month, Mr. Ryan will be speaking for the Tea Party as much as anyone else…

[E]very movement needs someone to help it focus. For the Tea Party, Mr. Ryan appears to be that man.

***

Romney embraced Ryan after the sociopathic — indifferent to the truth — ad for Barack Obama that is meretricious about every important particular of the death from cancer of the wife of steelworker Joe Soptic. Obama’s desperate flailing about to justify four more years has sunk into such unhinged smarminess that Romney may have concluded: There is nothing Obama won’t say about me, because he has nothing to say for himself, so I will chose a running mate whose seriousness about large problems and ideas underscores what the president has become — silly and small…

When Ryan said in Norfolk, “We won’t replace our Founding principles, we will reapply them,” he effectively challenged Obama to say what Obama believes, which is: Madison was an extremist in enunciating the principles of limited government — the enumeration and separation of powers. And Jefferson was an extremist in asserting that government exists not to grant rights but to “secure” natural rights that pre-exist government.

Beneath Messina’s distortions lies a real and important debate. Is our welfare state basically healthy, just in need of a few tweaks to restore its fiscal health? Democrats believe, or claim to believe, that if we just raised taxes on the rich and let experts redirect Medicare spending, we could keep the open- ended entitlement programs on which we have come to rely.

Republicans, on the other hand, tend to think that our entitlement programs are structurally flawed in a way that neither tax increases nor better management can solve. Republicans do not want to abolish these entitlements. Their view is that they should be limited, and made to work with rather than against markets.

The Democratic view has a strong base of support among voters. Even those who share the Republican view, as I do, cannot be sure it will win in the court of public opinion. If Romney and Ryan do prevail in November, it will mean that voters accept the need to modernize the welfare state — and this election will end up having been the most important one since 1980.

***

[B]y making this choice, Mitt Romney is declaring war. There will be no evasion, no triangulation, no attempt to mask what is at stake in this election. Instead, Romney and Ryan will directly confront Barack Obama and call him to account for putting us on a ruinous course.

This will alter radically the dynamics of the race. The money spent by Obama trying to demonize Governor Romney will prove to be money entirely wasted. The election is not going to be about Mitt Romney. It is not going to be about the sexual revolution. It is not going to be about Bain Capital. It is going to be about the failed policies of Barack Obama, about their dangerous character, and about the sober, sound alternative the Republicans represent.

This will help the Republicans in Senate and House races immeasurably, for it will give Romney and Ryan coattails — now, without a doubt, the candidates in these other races have something concrete on which to run: repeal Obamacare, pare back the entitlements state, reform our system of taxation, and put our fiscal house in order. No one will doubt the capacity of the Republicans to rule.

“The race is now framed exactly as we want it,” said Kevin Madden, a senior Romney adviser. “Voters are going to judge our current struggling economy and President Obama’s lack of leadership on that issue very harshly, and then look at a Romney-Ryan ticket as an opportunity to take the country in a bold new direction towards a better future.”…

What Mr. Obama found appealing, the notion of a man of ideas willing to make tough choices, is what he now will need to devalue him. While Democrats openly crowed that Mr. Ryan was the choice they had hoped for because of the sharp contrast, they acknowledged he is a young, attractive, well-spoken politician who explains his plan better than his fellow Republicans do. If he makes the issue the national debt that has risen so much under Mr. Obama, rather than his solution for it, Mr. Ryan could pose a serious challenge to the president.

“There’s only one president that I know of in history that robbed Medicare, $716 billion to pay for a new risky program of his own that we call Obamacare,” Romney said.

“What Paul Ryan and I have talked about is saving Medicare, is providing people greater choice in Medicare, making sure it’s there for current seniors. No changes, by the way, for current seniors, or those nearing retirement. But looking for young people down the road and saying, “We’re going to give you a bigger choice.” In America, the nature of this country has been giving people more freedom, more choices. That’s how we make Medicare work down the road.”

..amen, D1! And into the parking lot across the street from the stadium. It appears that the choice of Paul Ryan not only has invigorated the followers, it’s invigorated Mr Romney as well. He really seems upbeat and on track.

..amen, D1! And into the parking lot across the street from the stadium. It appears that the choice of Paul Ryan not only has invigorated the followers, it’s invigorated Mr Romney as well. He really seems upbeat and on track.

Hope this ass-kicking push back continues.

The War Planner on August 12, 2012 at 11:43 PM

He’s going to invigorate a whole lot of us if he goes to battle stations.

“My mom is a Medicare senior in Florida,” Ryan told CBS. “Our point is, we need to preserve their benefits because government made promises to them that they’ve organized their retirements around. In order to make sure we can do that, you must reform it for those of us who are younger. And we think these reforms are good reforms that have bipartisan origins. They started from the Clinton commission in the late ’90s.”

CBS pre-releases the quote — AND THEN CUTS IT FROM THE 60 MINUTES BROADCAST. Must have gotten a call from the White House. They even have it on their website — BUT NOT IN THE BROADCAST!! They also edited out Romney saying barack cut $700 billion from Medicare to pay for Obamacare. Lying obamamedia bast*rds.

Me. I’ve donated every month since the Obamacare decision, and I did again yesterday. I plan to donate in September & October again.

I’ve also signed up for phone banking, which will target swing states (I’m in a red state — LA) no way it’s going blue, so figured my efforts should be directed where it is needed most.

In 2008, I figured all the GOP needed was my vote because I thought it was apparent with Obama in Rev. Wright’s church for 20 years & the Joe the Plumber “spread the wealth around” comment that he was an American hating commie. I’m taking nothing for granted this time.

LOL! I was trying to be PG — the initial word that came to my mind isn’t fit to print. :-)

Dark Star on August 12, 2012 at 11:43 PM

A comment from the 60 Minutes link….

as a far left liberal i can confirm to you that we do not read anything. We like to watch the queers…i mean…talking heads on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, and CBS. They tell us what to think, i mean, say , and feel. After all we are just a bunch of lemmings following Harry Reid, I mean, Joe Biden…opps… Barry. Wait Barrack Saotao, opps, I slipped. Obama. Yes , that is his name, I think.

O.K. Ya’all know how you go to to You Tube for a link and get pissed off because they have fronted the vid with an ad? Well, I went to the link below and — for once — I watched the ad through to the finish. Wonder if it comes up for you and, if so, how you felt about it:

O.K. Ya’all know how you go to to You Tube for a link and get pissed off because they have fronted the vid with an ad? Well, I went to the link below and — for once — I watched the ad through to the finish. Wonder if it comes up for you and, if so, how you felt about it:

Barack Obama here. Good evening to all you wingnuts and teabaggers. My lovely Michelle had greetings for you too but I doubt her’s would make it through this web site’s filters so you will just have to image what she said. I will defeat the two inexperienced lightweights you dopes are putting up against me and with the greatest of ease. You might as well just give up right now and save yourselves any further embarrassment. My grand plan is working even better than I thought as due to your silly Christian upbringing most of you will now be compelled to fight against Romney and Ryan after I and the unbiased media prove in the court of public opinion that they are both mass murderers. Soon now both Harry Reid and I will reveal the names of hundreds of thousands of other people Romney has murdered by causing them to get cancer and the names of the thousands of people Ryan has murdered by stealing their wheel chairs and leaving them out in the woods to die a slow and painful death. The unbiased media will examine all my proof and declare it all 100% the truth. After the election and my landslide victory I will have my image placed on Mount Rushmore in place of those old honkies up there now and my dear and close friends in the Muslim Brotherhood will probably want to carve my image out of one of those old pyramids rather than tear them all down. I am Barack Obama and I will have at least four more years. More likely about 40 more years.

I would like to thank Gov. Romney for his choice in his running mate. Not because the media is giddy with his choice. Nor because some republicans fret his choice.

I applaud Gov. Romney because it tells me that this election isn’t about Gov. Romney–it’s about US. Awhile ago, I was listening to an interview with Ann Romney, about how he told her why he was thinking about running; she asked him if he could ‘fix it’ to which he responded, ‘yes, but time’s running out.’

“…Everything I said at the 2008 convention about then-candidate Obama still stands today, and in fact the predictions made about the very unqualified and inexperienced Community Organizer’s plans to “fundamentally transform” our country are unfortunately coming true. This year is a good opportunity for other voices to speak at the convention and I’m excited to hear them. As I’ve repeatedly said, I support Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in their efforts to replace President Obama at the ballot box, and I intend to focus on grassroots efforts to rally Independents and the GOP base to elect Senate and House members so a wise Congress is ready to work with our new President to get our country back on the right path. This is imperative. As President Clinton said in 2008 while candidate Obama and lapdogs in the media were thrashing his wife’s record and reputation, this is “…the biggest fairy tale.” For the sake of America’s solvency and sovereignty we must close this nonsensical book in November…”- Sarah Palin

This is imperative. As President Clinton said in 2008 while candidate Obama and lapdogs in the media were thrashing his wife’s record and reputation, this is “…the biggest fairy tale.” For the sake of America’s solvency and sovereignty we must close this nonsensical book in November…”- Sarah Palin

Schadenfreude on August 13, 2012 at 12:39 AM

True enough but ya gotta love the irony of the Clinton’s hurt butts after all the love they always gave to their opponents.

..I do! When I listened to that cut and some other stuff I though, “Man! Dylan? Kristofferson?” And wham! I looked at his Wiki bio:

Awards and influence
…
Prine has taken his place as one of the most influential songwriters of his generation. In 2009, Bob Dylan told the Huffington Post that Prine was one of his favourite writers, stating “Prine’s stuff is pure Proustian existentialism. Midwestern mindtrips to the nth degree. And he writes beautiful songs. I remember when Kris Kristofferson first brought him on the scene. All that stuff about “Sam Stone,”…

Thanks, Dire. Another treasure trove uncovered. I could expect no less from one who professes an appreciation for Mark Knopfler’s artistry.

Funny. I never felt that way about Bill Clinton. (I’m young-ish, but never felt that way about any of our presidents. Odumbo is the first. Of course, it’s probably that I’m racist and didn’t know it.)

RedCrow on August 13, 2012 at 12:48 AM

I had that feeling about Clinton as well, but not to the same degree as Maobama. Clinton would have been as damaging to the country if he had not lost the House and Senate in 1994 after the Hillarycare debacle. We dodged a bullet on that one. Speaking of which, remember that his administration was responsible for the scary looking black guns ban. He also raised tax rates on upper income earners, managed to destroy the US pleasure boat manufacturing industry, attempted to do the same to the luxury car industry and other similar anti-business policies. His administration set the 2007 housing market crash into motion by the heavy-handed CRA tactics employed by Janet Reno. Janet was also responsible for the Waco massacre and the Elian Gonzales tragedy.

So, yeah, Clinton had the same heavy handed statist marxist trappings as well. Jugears learned from some of the Clinton era “mistakes” and has definitely worked to surpass Clinton’s “achievements” vis a vis marxist statism. He has the advantage of a democrat controlled Senate to block any liberty-enhancing legislation coming from the Republican controlled House. Clinton didn’t have that.

Thx B.
It was too funny!
(I fell asleep at my desk! Very long week. Sooo good to get home. Thought I’d visit HA for a bit before falling into the lovely, waiting arms of Morpheus……Six hours later, I’m mopping drool up off the desk!)